Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Skully Keychain

These are completely awesome, easy to make and fast! I finished one skull within 20 minutes, and I had two kids hanging off of me and grabbing at my yarn! :D These are great for some instant gratification projects or when you just need something really quick for a present or just a boring afternoon. You could honestly make thousands of these and do whatever with them. I made them into key chains. You could use them for patches for hats, bags, or scarves. Topi knitted in black yarn with one of these patched onto the side like this hat would be awesome! The chart can also be used on a background instead of a patch itself or use a very chunky wool and larger needles to make coasters! These would also be awesome magnets, barrettes, and pins. This is very versatile, easy and quick to use. I added a bow to mine since I thought it would be cute as heck!Needles: #3 straight

Yarn: Palette Cream, Purple, and Grass (I use this because it's versatile and MANY people can afford it.)

Gauge: Doesn't really matter, but for the record you'll want to use a smaller size yarn & needles for key chain, larger yarn & needles for bigger projects.

Using straight needles C.O. 11 sts in main color and begin chart.The chart is pretty much self explanatory. Don't knit the squares beyond the purple skull border unless you are knitting it on a background.

Now here's what I did to turn them into key chains.

Weave in all the loose ends.

Felt them by hand. I fill a sink full of hot water (as hot as I can stand) and submerge them into the water. I also use some hand soap (bar form, laundry soap works well too) and soap them up a bit and then rub them vigorously between my hands. I constantly submerge them rinses them as I do this. I change the water about 4 times through out the process until I get the size I want. Then I roll them up in a towel and squish out the excess water. These dry VERY quickly. (Which is another cool aspect of this project.)

I get my handy dandy tools together.

...and cut a VERY small hole in the top of each piece. Just large enough to get the eyelets through. If you don't cut a hole, you'll REALLY regret it since it won't create a hole on it's own. I made this mistake once and couldn't get the eyelets apart to correct the mistake.

Read the instructions on the eyelet tool box in order to put in the eyelet. It's a bit confusing if you don't...*cough* believe me.

Put in jump rings and key chain hook. There you go...an awesome key chain. I took a piece of ribbon and tied it into a bow. Using the same color thread as the main color on the skull key chain, I tacked it onto the piece through the back of the bow. (Glue would work but if you're like me, things don't tend to stay as nice as you like them and thus you need things that are cool AND durable.)

Also, if you put in the eyelet and find out that your key chain skull is too big, that's fine. You can felt it again even if the eyelet is already in. Afterwards rehammer the eyelet to make it fit better.

for it to be a keychain..u need it to look good on both the right and the wrong side..right?so fair isle and intarsia wouldn't really make it look that perfect on the wrong side..i think..so did u go with duplicates stitches or what??

Neat. Although I dont like skulls, I love the concept. so I changed it to a smily face when I made mine. With the eyes and the smile...it makes ya smile cuz its almost funny. You really should charge for this pattern...you'd make a fortune.